Pursuant to the recommendations of the GST Council in its 47th meeting held on 28-29 June, CBIC issued a series of circulars in response to requests for clarifications from industry on various issues:
The above Circulars issued on August 03, 2022, can be accessed here.
CBIC has notified that e-invoicing under GST will now be applicable to taxpayers having aggregate turnover exceeding INR10 crore in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards. The Notification No.17/2022 – Central Tax dated August 01, 2022 can be accessed here.
In response to a question posed in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance Mr. Pankaj Chaudhary clarified that the ruling of the Supreme Court of India in Union of India & Anr. v M/s Mohit Minerals Pvt. Ltd. (which held that recommendations of the GST Council are non-binding on States) does not alter the constitutional mechanism of the GST Council. He stated that the State and Central Acts provide that rates, exemptions and rules etc. would be prescribed only on the recommendations of the council, and therefore are binding on the States and the Centre.
The documented response against Unstarred Question No. 203 on July 19, 2022 can be accessed here.
CBIC issued a series of notifications giving effect to the GST rate related decisions taken in the 47th Meeting of the GST council held last month. The relevant notifications No. 03/2022 to 11/2022-Central Tax (Rate) dated July 13, 2022 can be accessed here. A summary of these rate changes, effective July 18, 2022, is also available on the Tax Forum website.
In view of the recommendations of the 47th GST Council Meeting, a GoM was constituted to address necessary changes to provisions governing GST Appellate Tribunals. The GoM consists of Ministers from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. The Office Memorandum dated July 06, 2022 can be accessed here.
Pursuant to the recommendations made in the 47th Meeting of the GST Council held last month, the GST Policy Wing of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs has released a Concept Paper detailing the changes, including a draft Form GSTR-3B and explanatory instructions thereto, seeking comments and suggestions from the industry to finalise the same. The proposed changes aim to incorporate long-standing industry requests in view of challenges faced in undertaking compliances. A copy of the Concept Paper can be accessed here.
GSTN issues Advisory for auto-population of e-invoice details into GSTR-1, envisages that generation of e-invoice is mandatory for certain class of taxpayers, as notified by Government and these taxpayers are required to prepare and issue their e-invoices by reporting their invoice data in prescribed format (e-invoice schema in FORM GST INV-01) and reporting the same on Invoice Registration Portal (IRP). Click here to read / download the GSTN Advisory.
Further to the 45th Goods and Services Tax Council meeting CBIC has formed two Groups of Ministers (GoMs), the first to look into rate rationalisation and the second to examine the issues of e-way bills, FASTags, technology and compliances. Both the GoMs have been given two months’ time to submit their reports. Please refer here and here .
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has notified provision for self-certification instead of audit report from August 1. The changes have taken place following GST Council decision to allow self-certification of reconciliation statement in GSTR-9C instead of Chartered Accountant certificate, CBIC has notified the amendment in CGST Act. Please refer to the notification here.
The 44th meeting of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was held on 12 June 2021. The Council has decided to reduce GST rates on the following items being used in Covid-19 relief and management. The said reduction shall remain in force till 30 September 2021. Please access the relevant notification here.
Particulars | Earlier rate | Revised rate |
---|---|---|
Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B | 5% | Nil |
Anti-Coagulants like Heparin and Remdesivir | 12% | 5% |
Any other drug recommended by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Dept. of Pharma for Covid treatment | Applicable rate | 5% |
Oxygen, Oxygen generation equipment and related medical devices | 12% | 5% |
Testing Kits and Machines | 12% | 5% |
Pulse Oximeters, incl personal imports thereof | 12% | 5% |
Hand Sanitizer, Temperature check equipment, Gas/Electric/other furnaces for crematorium, including their installation, etc. | 18% | 5% |
Ambulances | 28% | 12% |
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has extended the basic customs duty and integrated goods and service tax exemptions for export oriented units, by a year till March 31, 2022. The Board also made it mandatory for a GST taxpayer having turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year,to furnish 6 digits HSN Code on invoices issued for supplies. Please refer to the notification here.
On the basis of feedback received from our members, USISPF had last week requested the GOI to defer implementation of Dynamic Quick Response (QR) Code on B2C invoices and compliance of Notification No. 14/2020- C.T. dated March 21, 2020. We are glad that our recommendations are accepted and CBIC has notified a waiver of penalty for non-compliance of capturing QR code till June 30.
Please access the notification here.
Further to industry request, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs has issued ‘Clarification on various refund related issues’. The summary of the clarifications issued has been provided in the below:
Please refer to the circular here ..
The Central Board of Indirect taxes & customs has notified that the requirement of Aadhar Authentication for GST registration shall not apply to 6 categories of person viz. (a) not a citizen of: India, (b) a Department or establishment of the Central Government or State Government (c ) a local authority (d ) a statutory body (e ) a Public Sector Undertaking and (f ) any specialized agency of the United Nations Organization or any Multilateral Financial Institution and Organization notified under the United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947, Consulate or Embassy of foreign countries; Supersedes Notification No. 17/2020- Central Tax dated March 23, 2020. Please read the notification here.
Last week forum had requested CBIC to extend the due date for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C on grounds of business situations due to COVID 19. Further to the industry request, CBIC has now extended the due date for filing filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for the Financial Year 2019-2020 to March 31, 2021. Please refer to the notification here.
Owing to the impact of COVID-19 which has resulted in business disruption and ability of the workforce to perform their tasks as well as difficulty for professionals in accessing data and interacting with the relevant stakeholders, USISPF has on behalf of its members requested CBIC for further relaxations on the compliance deadlines approaching by February.
On 25 December 2020 Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) released a facility of ‘communication between taxpayers’ on the GST portal. This facility enables the taxpayer, both recipient and supplier to communicate with each other by sending a notification regarding missing documents, any shortcomings in the documents or any other related issue. The facility is available to all registered persons, except those registered as person liable to deduct or collect tax at source and non-resident taxable person. The manner of using the facility and sending notification has been detailed in the GSTN communication. User manual and frequently asked questions (FAQs) have also been issued in this regard. Please access the facility here.
The government has notified several changes in the GST law and has also put into effect several amendments brought in vide the Finance Act, 2020. Key changes brought in Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017 through Notification No. 94/2020-Central Tax dated 22 December 2020 are with regards to the following:
Please refer to the notification here .
CBIC has issued clarification on waiver from recording of UIN on the invoices issued by the retailers/suppliers, pertaining to the refund claims from April 2020 to March 2021. Please refer to the circular here.
The Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 provide time limits for the examination of anti-profiteering applications by the Standing committee, completion of investigation by the Director General of Anti-profiteering and passing of order by the National Anti-profiteering Authority. In a recent notification Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the time limit for completing anti-profiteering related actions by the Authority constituted under GST. As per the Notification, where the time limit for completion or compliance of any anti-profiteering related action by any Authority, falls during the period 20 March 2020 to 30 March 2021, the same shall be extended till 31 March 2021. Refer to the notification here.
For further details please reach us here
Facility to file annual return in Form GSTR-9 for FY 2019-20 is now available on GSTN portal. The Form is enabled for taxpayers whose table 8A computation has been completed.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs and the Goods and service Tax network have released updated FAQs on GST E-invoicing bringing in important updates. Please refer to the FAQs here.
Owing the impact of COVID-19 which has resulted in business disruption and ability of work force to perform their tasks as well as difficulty for professionals in accessing data and interacting with the relevant stakeholders, USISPF had on behalf of its members requested CBIC for further relaxations on the compliance deadlines approaching by September 2020. We are glad our recommendations are considered.
In a recent instruction issued by Principal Commissioner, dated September 18, 2020, tax authorities have been advised that for the period July 01, 2017 to August 31, 2020 only interest needs to be recovered on the net cash tax liability (i.e. the portion of the tax that has been paid by debiting the electronic cash ledger or is payable through cash ledger. Further it has been clarified that wherever SCN have been issued on gross tax payable, the same may be kept in Call book till the retrospective amendment in section 50 of CGST Act is carried out.
Facility to view, file and download returns of period July 2017 has been restored on GSTN portal
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs and the Goods and service Tax network have released updated FAQs on GST E-invoicing bringing in important updates. Please refer to the FAQs here. For further details please reach out to @Shweta Kathuria
In a recent notification and circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the board has notified that with effect from 1 January 2021, e-invoicing will be applicable to taxpayers having aggregate turnover exceeding INR100 crores in the preceding financial years. The notification further provides that the amendment in section 39 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act) to enable quarterly filing of return by certain class of taxpayers, has been notified w.e.f. 10 November 2020. Please refer to the relevant notification here. For further details please reach out to @Shweta Kathuria
In a recent announcement, CBIC has amended the requirement for issuance of e-invoice w.e.f. January 1, 2021 making it applicable to registered persons whose turnover in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards exceeds Rs. 100 crore in respect of supply of goods or services or both or exports. The board has also extended the time-limit for furnishing the details of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 for each of the tax periods w.e.f. January 1, 2021 till the 11th of month succeeding each tax-period. Refer to the relevant notifications here and here. For further queries, please write to @Shweta Kathuria
The 42nd GST Council meeting concluded on October 5 2020 under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman through video conferencing. The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance& States/ UTs. Please access the press release here.
GST e-invoicing mechanism is mandatory w.e.f. 01.10.2020 for all tax payers having turnover in a financial year exceeding Rs 500 crore. Basis USISPF’s survey on the preparedness of Industry we had requested GST council to consider postponing the date of mandatory implementation. CBIC has in a recent press release considered our request and has waived the penal provisions w.r.t. mandatory e-invoicing prescribed for taxpayers having aggregate turnover of Rs. 500 Cr. and above for the month of October 2020. In a press release issued CBIC has clarified that invoices issued by such taxpayers during October 2020 without following the manner prescribed under rule 48(4), shall be deemed to be valid and the penalty leviable u/s 122 for such non-adherence to provisions, shall stand waived if Invoice Reference Number (IRN) for such invoices is obtained from the Invoice Reference Portal (IRP) within 30 days of date of invoice. We are glad that our recommendations are considered. We will continue to work with the Government to get the required clarifications. Please refer to the press release here.
In a recent Circular CBIC has clarified that the compliance with Rule 36(4) for the months of February 2020 to August 2020 should be done cumulatively and reported in September 2020 returns, ie, 110% of matched credit are to be availed and any excess to be reversed. Please access the circular here.
CBIC defers implementation of requirement of Dynamic QR code in B2C invoices to December 01, 2020. Given that the requirement to a Dynamic QR code USISPF had requested the GST council secretariate to allow industry some more time to get the systems ready for generating such a QR code. Unlike e-invoicing where the QR code is pre-generated by IRP and sent to a taxpayer, here the taxpayer would need to self-generate the QR code. With a limited time of a week for 01 October 2020, there was an urgent need to defer this requirement of incorporating B2C QR code. We are glad our recommendations are considered. Please refer to the notification here.
Owing the impact of COVID-19 which has resulted in business disruption and ability of work force to perform their tasks as well as difficulty for professionals in accessing data and interacting with the relevant stakeholders, USISPF had on behalf of its members requested CBIC for further relaxations on the compliance deadlines approaching by September 2020. We are glad our recommendations are considered.
In a recent instruction issued by Principal Commissioner, dated September 18, 2020, tax authorities have been advised that for the period July 01, 2017 to August 31, 2020 only interest needs to be recovered on the net cash tax liability (i.e. the portion of the tax that has been paid by debiting the electronic cash ledger or is payable through cash ledger. Further it has been clarified that wherever SCN have been issued on gross tax payable, the same may be kept in Call book till the retrospective amendment in section 50 of CGST Act is carried out.
Facility to view, file and download returns of period July 2017 has been restored on GSTN portal
Central Government further extended due date of furnishing FORM GSTR-4 (composition dealer) till August 31, 2020. Refer to the release here.
The 40th GST Council meeting was held on 12 June 2020 through video conferencing. Given the COVID 19 situation the Council discussed a number of issues such as reducing compliance costs of taxpayers, inverted duty structure in the textile industry, and the shortage of funds to pay compensation cess to the States. Please refer to the press release here.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the time limit for issuing refund order and validity of e-way bill under Goods and Services Tax (GST). Please refer to the notification here.
Please access the notification here.
CBIC has further extended the facility of accepting undertaking in lieu of bond for the period till June 15, 2020 and date for submission of proper bond in lieu of which the undertaking is being temporarily accepted till June 30, 2020. Please access the Circular here.
Please access the notification here.